The geographic position of the project site is particular for the sea facing of the area and the vicinity to Singapore.

These two aspects suggested to us to take in big consideration the nature of the shore and its beauty to be valorised and the panoramic view to and from sea, to and from future islands to be built and Singapore.

The building, which takes in the Civic Centre Joan Oliver, was built in the late 90s. Their services are distributed on the ground floor and their spaces are articulated on both sides of a longitudinal corridor, where they are located, on one side, the classrooms and offices, and on the opposite side, the gym and the locker room.

Qingwan district is located at Penghu’s Fongguei Peninsula. Surrounded by sea, it is abundant in marine resources and natural wonders. The basaltic landscape, diverse vegetation, and forts remained from the military days make Qingwan the perfect place for tourism development.

The rehabilitation of the Seegmuller Tower is part of the new masterplan of the André Malraux peninsula and the surrounding of the Austerliz docks in Strasbourg, France.

Two main axes guide the masterplan of the Austerlitz docks:
– The creation of a new destination for Strasbourg’s contemporary city life
– The preservation and conversion of old industrial buildings as well as the development of the Strasbourg’s harbour heritage

This project is located in San Pedro de Urabá, a small town that belongs to a region in the northwest side of Antioquia and is 425 km from the city of Medellín, the capital. This town has been scarred due to violets conflicts, at first, related to the illegal extraction of their natural resources, and then related to the creation of illegal armed groups unleashed a wave of violence, leaving thousands of victims.

On the site, that was being used as a planting field, we found the typical granite walls, a stone pit, some fruit trees and bushes. Those walls were recovered and the trees, the bushes and the stone pit were kept in their original place, in order to preserve the identity of the site.

The strong slope of the topography of about 5 meters between the street and the top of the site defined the planning of the house in two floors, nevertheless it was sought that both floors had direct connection with the outside garden.

Located amongst the Gavi vineyards, right in the heart of the La Raia farm, lies Borgo Merlassino. A rural resort combining traditional agricultural activity with new accommodation facilities: La Raia B&B, the La Raia Foundation headquarters, warehouses, laboratories for the Waldorf school and a reading hall. The genesis of the refurbishment and transformation of the former hamlet starts from the pre-existing structures. It was promptly decided that, rather than the actual buildings, it was the character and quality of the relevant spaces between the structures that needed ample renovation. The design statement envisaged contamination and contradiction as a strong structuring identity of the Site. The use of rammed-earth walls, the choice of traditional colours of buildings in Liguria and the reinterpretation of traditional building techniques have jointly attributed a new character to the hamlet. The senses of time, the scale, as well as the balance between old and new were the real motif of the design.

B + ABR – Backheuser and Riera Arquitetura is an architecture and urban planning firm founded in 2014 as a result of the partnership between the offices BlAC and ABR, which started in 2010.

As of the experience acquired by their partners, responsible amongst others for projects such as Olympic arenas, housing, schools, corporative, hotels and several urbanization projects, B + ABR aims at a collaborative and multidisciplinary future , seeking to leverage the exchange of experiences and the symbiosis between the Brazilian-Carioca and Spanish-Catalan cultures to the utmost.

Anytime you have to design a place to work, able to communicate its company philosophy and foster its activity development, it is an atractive and difficult challenge; but if this office is going to be your new headquarters, this challenge gets huge and powerful.

For us, this project for GANA’s new headquarters emerged full of ideas and illusion, based on a place with great location and possibilities. Features as the traditional flooring tiles from the 30’s, views to Santiago’s church, or the access from Alcazabilla street, make of this project a valuable opportunity. Thus, the key of this design is to empower the existing elements, as an oposition to the contemporary elements required for the activity itself.